I had my breakfast today at about 10, which is late for me and I had a day off of my normal ‘day job’ so I sat down and thought; ‘What can I do in one day?’
I started my ‘working day’ today at 12, and finished at 9. (Not including writing this post, which I’m doing at about half ten at night; who knows when I’ll be finished with it).
I managed to achieve quite a lot today, and I’d like to share my experience in the hope that you might be able to see where you’re not being as productive as you could be.
Being productive; What we all know
This is what we all seem to know about being productive; you should start with the hardest task first, and then just keep going and try not to get distracted. That’s easier said than done though, right?
Of course it is. It’s like a huge number of things in life where people know what they probably ‘should’ be doing, when they really think about it but they often don’t actually do it. Why not?
Because the human brain can be a very annoying thing indeed. It has the ability to distract you and shift your focus onto completely random things at any given time, ever. This ability never really goes away and instead stays lodged in your brain ready to strike at any time. It’s harsh like that, and it’s important to keep a clear mental state in order to actually get things done.
So what have I done in one day?
The whole point of this post I suppose is to share what I’ve done in one single day, and I’d like to let you know first before you read it that this is not my most productive day ever, not by a long shot. It’s just one which I’m using as an example because, let’s be honest, not many of us are using our day as well as we could be. You’ve seen the jelly bean video explaining how much time we have in life right? If not, quickly watch it.
Time is precious.
In one day, (24.10.2014), I have –
- Completely organized and sorted my room from top to bottom
- Filed and sorted all my business accounts and tax items/receipts
- Emailed 20 people regarding possible joint ventures and working together on projects I love
- Drafted 2-3 new posts for my sites
- Created (from scratch) promotional graphics in various sizes for my Ebook
- Planned my next month of work and activities
- Streamlined my investments and savings accounts
- Printed out motivational posters for my room to keep me thinking positively
- Sorted out the things I no longer use and therefore can sell
- Designed a custom header image for my other site
- Contacted a designer to design the logo for Transcend Your Limits. (You may be seeing this logo NOW if you’re reading this in the future)
- Various other cleaning in my room
At first glance it may seem like this is just random stuff that isn’t really that impressive, but let me explain.
See, what I’ve done, is taken action. I’ve actually taken a step (however small) towards my goals.
My goals being of course to become a millionaire, have several online businesses paying for my life which allows me to work on things I love and help people, and to become the best version of myself.
The seemingly small things I’ve done today will have huge results when taken forward into the future. If I think about the effect that just the motivational posters will have on my mood, thoughts, and therefore actions and future results, I get all excited. I can see the future finished in advance.
I know I’ll be a success and simply thinking that I will will lead to a chain of events that will in the end, make me a success.
Cutting out the things you don’t want or need
Among the list of things I’ve done today you may have noticed that I cut out all the things I don’t need any more, and they’re ready to sell on. This is better than throwing them away, because if I just did that, then no-one would benefit from them, and the world doesn’t need more rubbish being thrown onto the rubbish heap. It’s better to sell the things on, that way I get more money, and other people can find some value in the things.
This is also part of a little experiment I’m doing in my life.
Cutting out everything I don’t need, and anything negative.
I have started removing instantly anything that I either don’t need, don’t want or find to impact me in a negative way. If someone is constantly moaning and complaining, bringing me and the mood down then I’ll just stop talking to them, stop thinking about them and stop focusing any sort of attention on them.
This way, I’m not wasting any effort, energy, time, or mental power on the negative. I’m focusing almost ALL of my energy on the positive.
I’ve only just recently started doing this, so I’ll let you know how it goes later on. The way I’m thinking is along the lines of ‘We are what we think about’ or ‘We become what we think about’. So If I’m ONLY thinking positive things then it stands to reason that I’ll get positive results. If I’m not even thinking about or even being aware of the negative then it can’t effect me.
I was doing this a while ago by my decision to stop watching any form of media related news.
I decided one day that the media is ultimately a bad thing.
It has come forward in leaps and bounds in terms of the technology, and now people are able to see from anywhere in the world with an internet connection or TV things that are going on right now. They can see instantly reporters interviewing victims of a hurricane, or the families of a stabbing victim talking about how sad they are, but what good does that do?
Sure the technology is there so we’re able to see all of this stuff in more inventive ways than ever, (Google glass allows you to even see news articles in front of your eyes while you’re walking around) but to what end? It’s a bad thing! Let me explain.
What are you focusing on?
Every single thought that enters your brain has an effect on you. It seeps into your mind, and the more you experience of a single thought the more it stays there. The deeper it goes. Try this little experiment for me, the next time you turn on the TV, count how many SECONDS it is before you hear or see something NEGATIVE. Something that induces fear, sadness, anger or depression.
It’s going to be SECONDS before you see something bad on the news, so why waste your time looking at it or consuming it? Those negative thoughts are entering your mind and this can seriously change your thoughts patterns and your brain over hours and hours, years and years of viewing it.
So I stopped. I cut out all news, and every single time I walk past the TV if the news is on, I’ll instantly mute it, change channels or leave the room. When someone in my house is watching the news, I’ll leave the room instantly. I don’t have time for that negativity, because the ONLY thing it does is keep people scared. It keeps people fearful of their city.. their country.. I prefer to focus on positive things and making a mark on the world.
Going back to my one day
As you’ve realized, I drift a little in my articles and have to bring things back together, so this is my return to form. In this one day of being productive, I made a custom header image. Normally this is the sort of thing I would instantly outsource to a designer and wash my hands of it but today I felt like giving it a go, not because I couldn’t afford a designer but because I wanted to learn.
I always think that with the vast majority of skills, it doesn’t actually take THAT much effort to become ‘good enough’ at the skill to get results. You may have heard of the saying ‘the 3 book expert’. The saying suggests that after reading 3 books on a subject you’ve gained more knowledge than 90% of the other people interested in that topic or who’ve heard about that topic.
I believe that with a little effort, anyone can learn anything. If you don’t know how to code, get a book from the library and learn the basics. Even just doing that.. spending a few hours learning a new skill will not only broaden your horizons, but it will save you money in the future. Learn to fix your own car (To a certain point.. There are some things that you need an expert to fix) and you’ll save money.
Every time I have the chance, I always learn a little bit about how to do something I don’t know how to do. Every time I have got a haircut for several years, I’d watch closely how they do it. I’d observe them so closely that now, I literally cut my own hair. I don’t ever go to the hairdressers now because I’ve just learned how to do it.
Stay so busy that you don’t know what day it is
I like this little idea that I got from the salesman/marketer, ‘Grant Cardone’. He says in one of his videos that he’s so busy hustling he doesn’t even know what day of the week it is.
Weekends don’t matter because the world never sleeps. I’ll be honest, if I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t sleep. I would have maybe just the hour or so of the night that contains REM sleep, so that I can Lucid Dream. Other than that I’d just be awake all the time.
I don’t like the idea of sleeping, but because of the design of your bodies, we sort of need sleep to function properly. Something about renewing our energy and healing ourselves.. Keeping up immune system function etc. Silly design really..
But I try to stay very busy.. No matter what day it is. If I have a day off my normal ‘day job’ then I’ll smash out loads of work on my online business, or I’ll workout, go for a walk, go to a new place.. Experience something new or learn something.
I try not to waste any time watching stupid TV shows that don’t teach you anything or just reading pointless Facebook comments. (I used to have a Facebook addiction).
I have wasted an incredible amount of time on Facebook
This is something I thought I’d let you all know; I’ve wasted hundreds of hours on Facebook over the years and it’s led me to a thought..
If I spent all those hours posting on my blog, updating my online businesses, creating products etc, where would I be now? How much money would I be earning? It’s painful to think about but it highlights the importance of watching what you spend time on EACH DAY because that’s where greatness is achieved.
It’s not massive moments of great success, but the tiny things that you do each day.. The things you don’t think even matter like how much time you spend checking your emails.. Updating your Facebook, or texting random friends about things that aren’t important.
If you took every minute you would normally spend JUST ON FACEBOOK and then instead spend that minute working out.. Or building your own business, in 5 years time your life will be a completely new experience for you.
What are you going to do today?
I don’t know what time you’re reading this, but if you’re reading it in the morning, think about what you’re going to do today.. How are you going to spend your time? What things will you do today that you will reap the benefits of later in life.. I’ve had way too many days that haven’t produced ANY benefits other than satisfying my need for playing video games.
I’m thankful I don’t play many games these days because I’ve been able to spend so much more time doing other things like making this blog and doing all sorts of cool things with my life. What are you going to do today?